Each county/regional HFH affiliate is basically independent and we haven't run into this issue before. The national organization does provide information/organizational safety resources and materials, but for the most part local affiliate's funding/operations is entirely local. But I'll reach out to some of our neighboring affiliates because they include major cities where this has probably come up before. Hadn't thought about the health Dept - worth a shot. Hmm, guess I should ask our local ACS section membership as I'm its president now (doh!). Many thanks.

Rob

On Jan 16, 2013, at 1:47 PM, Larry Maglin - NZ wrote:

Should put an ad/request out on CraigsList and see what pops... I worked for WR Grace back in the early 80's when they were still selling

Vermiculite as attic insulation... (did a few test attic air samples back in the day)... Each bag of vermiculite had about 20-30ppm of tremolite (asbestos) in it

depending which mine it came from. EPA is correct, I would assume it's there.

I'm surprised that your sponsor Habitat for Humanity does not have a source for testing.... No corporate sponsors for your project that has

a good IH/Safety department? did you check with County or the City health department for testing?

I am the (volunteer) Volunteer Coordinator for Gloucester County (NJ) Habitat for Humanity and I'm looking for a firm to do some discounted (or preferably gratis) asbestos testing on our behalf. We normally build new homes, but every once in a while a generous benefactor will donate an existing property to us.

We currently have one home from 1956 that we are gutting and renovating. My biggest concern is some ceiling tile we'd prefer to take off rather than cover up, and the next biggest is the vermiculite in the attic. On the latter, the EPA says just to assume that it contains asbestos as 70-80% of the vermiculite from that era does. Which is fine if you live there, don't go up in the attic and let it lie - millions of homes have it. But we may have to consider patching at least part of the ceiling and roof and that would stir things up, so it would be helpful to know for sure. There are also two other possible samples from that one home and a ceiling in a second home that we might also want to get done.

Does anyone have suggestions for a firm that would be willing to cut us a break on pricing for these tests? I contacted EMSL Analytical which has a local office, but they had no interest in helping out our charity - not even a tiny discount. They want $189 for the vermiculite and $105 each for to test samples of ceiling/floor tiles or duct wrap. Our budgeted amount is, of course, zero.

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